A burglary suspect who allegedly committed two separate burglaries in downtown Austin over the weekend was found dead at the scene of one of the crimes, as confirmed by the Austin Police Department. According to a report from KXAN, the unidentified individual was discovered unresponsive by police officers who responded to a burglary call on East Seventh Street on Sunday evening at around 5:20 p.m. Attempts to resuscitate the suspect were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at 7:25 p.m.
Earlier the same day, the APD indicated that the suspect was involved in another incident less than a quarter mile away. The prior event involved a break-in in the 400 block of East Sixth Street. An article from FOX 7 Austin detailed how the suspect had broken through a glass window of a home on 6th Street, prompting a confrontation with the homeowner who used pepper spray to defend themselves. Police suggested that the suspect then fled and broke another window to gain entry to an office building on Brazos Street. Bloody footprints were to eventually lead officers to the suspect's location inside the building.
Neither report suggested that the suspect's death resulted from homicide, and the Austin Police have not disclosed whether the individual had injuries aside from what police theorized could be cut from glass. Investigations into both burglaries and the suspect's death are ongoing. The suspect's identification had not been made known, keeping the community at a temporary pause, waiting for more information to contextualize the sequence of events that unfolded across their downtown landscape.
The events of these burglaries and the suspect's untimely death have left residents to carefully rethink their sense of safety and security within a bustling urban area generally known for its vibrant scene, and not for the echo of sirens responding to a despaired call of broken glass and lost lives.
